Author Archives: Jered Gold

Who Will Take on Craig Ellwood?

Photo © Steven A. Heller/Art Center College of Design

More than three decades ago, Craig Ellwood Associates designed a building for the College’s new Hillside Campus nestled in the San Rafael Hills overlooking the Rose Bowl. The 200,000-square-foot modernist steel-and-glass slab soon became an Art Center icon and a Pasadena historic landmark.

A lot has changed since we originally moved here, including the way we teach and the resources our students need. At 35 years old, the Ellwood building is in need of a few changes and renovations, and we’re looking at architecture firms for the job.

The renovation will encompass not only the classroom structure of the building, but also make important seismic upgrades. We’ll be looking at issues of sustainability and access as well.

Our search for an architecture firm parallels the College’s strategic planning process, which has engaged students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees and members of the community in a meaningful dialogue about the future of art and design education. The strategic plan focuses on critical issues related to curriculum and pedagogy, governance and diversity, and facilities and technology—some of which will be addressed in the renovation.

“Art Center is looking forward to getting to know each of these firms as we look for the best fit for this project, our culture, our mission and our strategic plan,” said Art Center’s Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Operations George Falardeau.

The finalist firms include:

Art Center will announce the chosen firm early next year. And that’s just the beginning! The strategic plan and selected firm will inform Art Center’s Master Plan with lots of discussion between the College, our neighbors and city officials before anything is set in stone (or glass and steel). Stay tuned!

For more details, our friends at A/N Blog first reported the story: Exclusive: Art Center Renovation Shortlist

Art Center on Display at L.A. Auto Show

Art Center students manning the L.A. Auto Show exhibit

The L.A. Auto Show kicks off today, hosting 50 world and North American debuts across virtually all vehicle categories.

This year’s show will display a number of electric vehicles and futuristic concepts, and test-drives of a number of vehicles.

Art Center again has an exhibition space in the show, featuring student and alumni work from Transportation Design and beyond.

Alumnus Chip Foose has work on display; Deep Orange, the collaborative concept electric vehicle created by Clemson University graduate students and styled by Art Center students; and examples of Art Center student work from a variety of disciplines.

Take a peek at the Art Center exhibit in the photo slide show below:

Another Art Center connection to the auto show: The Cadillac Aera concept vehicle won the 2010 Los Angeles Auto Show Design Challenge. The concept was created in GM’s North Hollywood Advanced Design Studio, led by alum Frank Saucedo. GM Advanced Design has now won the honor more times than any other design team; this is its third victory since 2005. Congrats!

Fred Fehlau Named Art Center Provost

Alumnus Fred Fehlau has been named provost of Art Center after a lengthy, global search that looked at hundreds of candidates.

Photo by Ken Merfled

Fehlau is a well-known figure on campus—as a professor he has taught in multiple departments across the College, earning seven Great Teacher Awards for teaching in the areas of Fine Art, Photography and Imaging, Graphic Design and Foundation Studies.

Over the years, he has taken on increasing roles of responsibility at the College, serving as interim chair of the Graphic Design Department, Chair of the Senior Education Committee and Chair of the Foundation Studies Department (now called Integrated Studies). Most recently, he served as institutional accreditation liaison officer and dean of Academic Affairs.

Fehlau has been involved with and highly committed to Art Center for many years. He earned both his BFA and MFA in Fine Art from Art Center, graduating with distinction from the undergraduate program and with honors from the graduate program. He is a working graphic designer and a professional studio artist whose works and curatorial projects have been featured in numerous one-person museum and gallery exhibitions around the world.

His appointment cements a new era of leadership at the College, following the announcements of Lorne Buchman as President in 2009 and Robert C. Davidson Jr. as Chairman of the Board of Trustees in February. As provost, Fehlau will lead faculty and Department Chairs in improving, designing and implementing changes to bring Art Center’s goals to fruition. Additionally, he will supervise student-related functions and services and will assist the president in various external activities, including fundraising.

This Week at Art Center

It’s another busy week here at Art Center. Just some of this week’s events:

Photo © Steven A. Heller/Art Center College of Design

  • It’s International Education Week, and there are a ton of fun events planned. Dotted Line Blog
  • Director of Photography Paul Goldsmith, whose credits include Academy Award-winning documentary When We Were Kings, will be on campus for the Distinguished Filmmakers Series Tuesday at 2 p.m. More info.
  • East or Beast: What does Jaws have in common with Slumdog Millionaire? Sarha Moore, soprano saxophonist in the Bollywood Brass Band and Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology at the University of Sheffield will discuss the topic and air clips of great movies and music. Tuesday, Nov. 16, 1-2 p.m., Room 208, Hillside Campus.
  • Blurred Boundaries: Interactive Design and the digital agency Schematic invite a host of industry professionals to explore how the shrinking space between brand communication and product design is changing the way we design. Thursday, Nov. 18, 7-9 p.m., L.A. Times Media Center. More info.
  • Art Center Student Government elections will be held this Wednesday and Thursday.
  • Save the date: registration is now open for Imaging DNA 2011, held on March 26 at Art Center. Imaging DNA

Big Picture Lecture Series: David Wilson

Don’t miss today’s Big Picture Lecture Series featuring David Wilson, who will speak on Nikolai Federov, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the Roots of the Russian Space Program.

Wilson is the founding director of the Museum of Jurassic Technology (MJT), which he opened in 1988 in Culver City. MJT has exhibited internationally and Wilson has lectured throughout North America and Europe.

He has produced eight independent films, most recently under the auspices of MJT in conjunction with Kabinet, an arts and science-based cultural institution located in St. Petersburg, Russia. The latest of their collaborative efforts is titled Bol’shoe Sovietskia Zatmenie (The Great Soviet Eclipse).

In 2001, the MacArthur Foundation granted Wilson a fellowship in recognition of his accomplishments at the museum.

And don’t forget—podcasts of the lectures are up at Art Center’s iTunes U site.

Big Picture Lecture Series: David Wilson
Monday, November 15, 1 pm
Ahmanson Auditorium

Design Activists: Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh

The following is a posting from Daily BR!NK. Interview by Lauren Rigney, photographs courtesy of Narbeh and Jessica

Narbeh Dereghishian and Jessica Yeh: Design Activists

There are two things in this world that Art Center Product Design student Narbeh Dereghishian and Environmental Design student Jessica Yeh believe everyone should have access to: A warm shower and wonderful design

By Lauren Rigney for Daily BR!NK

The next time you pick up a product and admire it for its sheer beauty, simplicity or functionality, you can thank people like Jessica Yeh and Narbeh Dereghishian. Students at the Art Center College of Design in California, Jessica and Narbeh love nothing more than improving life through innovation and design.

When they were both offered the opportunity last fall to spend two weeks at a campamento (or slum) in Chile, researching how to design basic tools that would improve the Chileans’ lives, neither realized at that point just how big of a difference they were about to make.

The result of their research and efforts is the Ducha Halo, Spanish for “Halo Shower”: a low-cost, portable tool that makes taking a warm shower as easy as 1, 2, 3 – you heat the container on a grill, pump the handle to pressurize the water, and step on pedal to let the comfort of a nice, warm shower wash over you.

What made you want to go to school for design?
Jessica Yeh: I think it was just something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I made up my mind in middle school that I just had to be a designer (laughs).
Narbeh Dereghishian: I knew I wanted to solve problems.

Why did you want to be part of the class that undertook the assignment of visiting, and designing for, a Chilean slum? That’s not typical homework…
JY: Design is wonderful, and it can be really innovative and have the potential to help people who need simple things. Just to help make their lives a little bit easier, a little bit better and more enjoyable.
ND: Exactly. As for me, I’ve done other projects related to social design, and the one prior to this one was one in Guatemala where I did water filtration for a rural community there. This was right up that alley.

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Upcoming: International Education Week

It’s going to be a fun week on campus for Art Center students, faculty and staff: International Education Week. A joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education, the week of events celebrates the benefits of international education and exchange.

Photo © Steven A. Heller/Art Center College of Design

All week, the cafeteria will serve a variety of international cuisines, there will be a display of multilingual art and design books in the library, and there will be information available about the Designmatters Department. International Education Week is sponsored by the Center for the Student Experience, Designmatters, Illustration Department, FOOD, the Armory Center for the Arts, Continental Art Supply Store and the Japanese American National Museum.

International Education Week events:

Monday, November 15
Global IQ Quiz
CSE Lounge, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Enjoy international coffee, tea, snacks and music, then test your global knowledge by taking a short 15-question Global IQ Quiz and enter to win a prize.

Tuesday, November 16
London Ancient Modern: The Mix
Faculty Dining Room,1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Would you like to study in London next spring? Learn more about this annual trip led by Illustration Department Chair Ann Field. While you’re there, try your hand at flag painting, enjoy a British afternoon tea service, and meet Paul Smith’s L.A. team and more at this event hosted by the Illustration Department.

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Art Center Media Minute

Some recent media coverage featuring Art Center, our faculty, students and alumni:

Faculty’s Cookbook Among Best of 2010

More about Art Center faculty member and cookbook writer extraordinaire Krystina Castella—her latest cookbook, A World of Cake, has just been named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2010 by Publisher’s Weekly, who dub it the “best international baking book.”

From the publication: “Pictures of marzipan-covered fruitcakes are gorgeous, and sidebars on such topics as street cakes make this an educational book in addition to a holiday workhorse.”

Congrats, Krystina!

Enjoy these photos taken at Castella’s book signing in the Library on Thursday:

Safe Agua Wins Top Spark Award

The following post was written by Product Design alumnus Will Tang, Product Design student KC Cho and Environmental Design student Stephanie Stalker for the Designmatters blog.

Last October, our class of 12 students was still busily refining concepts, building mockups, and preparing for midterm presentations for Safe Agua, a sponsored project focused on addressing water issues in the campamentos, or slums, of Santiago, Chile.

Since then, six projects were developed including a shower solution, dishwashing station and community laundromat being field-tested by Un Techo para Chile.

A year later, on October 17, KC Cho made the long drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco to submit Safe Agua for the 2010 Spark Awards, an International Design Competition.

With guidance from Mariana Amatullo, Karen Hofmann, and David Mocarski, Liliana and KC worked diligently to complete the application process. Along with the oversized poster, the Safe Agua documentary by Elizabeth Bayne, Harry Gota by the Ming Tai’s motion team and the Safe Agua book by Lisa Wagner’s graphic team were delivered the next morning to the site of the Spark Awards at the Autodesk office on One Market Street.

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